Once they log on and create a character, however, the difference between girls and boys in the world of WoW becomes much more pronounced. Even though they may join for social reasons, the downside of socializing within WoW is often not something a girl expects, whether this is her first game or her hundredth.
When a girl creates an account and starts to play World of Warcraft, there are a few possible outcomes that could happen. If she picks an obviously girly name like DaisyDuke, ILUVJOE, or PrincessRainbowGlitter it is likely that other players will see that she is a girl and some teasing and heckling will commence right away. She may, however, get mistaken for a guy playing a female character, in which case she may get some teasing but avoid many people trying to hit on her. With the abundance of night elves and blood elves about, it is fairly common for a male player to play a female character. One player I spoke with about this reasoned that if he is going to spend so much time playing a character, it might as well provide a pleasant view for him. All guys joke around with each other, but as soon as it becomes known that the person behind the character is actually female, the fun begins. "A/S/L?", "do you have a Myspace?", and "can you send me a pic?" become common questions. (Common being a polite way of saying that these are asked over and over without mercy until the poor girl stops conversing.) If she's on Ventrilo or another audio communication program, inevitably someone will say "dude, your voice sounds HOT" and the attempts to hit on her will start to pile up. The majority of guys make some clumsy attempt to call attention to her sexually, or possibly fall back on the old favorites of calling into question her looks or her weight. Some will try to be nice, but with the obvious intent to get more than just her character name. Let's face it; as soon as a girl enters the World of Warcraft scene there are guys jumping to get her attention.
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